


give me your hand, and let’s go!

by giftedsun



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: 2nd years are so good they warm my heart...., F/F, Roadtrip au!, but at least i had fun!, i tried to write this so there's content for every ship... i may have failed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 21:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15591240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giftedsun/pseuds/giftedsun
Summary: chika and you want to go on a roadtrip. riko does not. riko, of course, goes anyways.





	give me your hand, and let’s go!

**Author's Note:**

> a commission for my friend sean! (redactedredacted on tumblr)... thank you so much for commissioning me! i hope you like it!
> 
> title is from the lyrics of kimeta yo hand in hand, i love the idea of the second years going forth into the unknown future together. 
> 
> (ps: i apologize for my lazy use of honorifics; i endeavoured to use them here as it didn't feel /right/ without them, however, there were some sections in which they felt forced or uncomfortable. I don't think I'll do it again, haha)

Like all amazing, life-changing, absolutely horrible ideas, the road trip idea is concocted by Chika.

“Let’s just  _ go! _ ” She exclaims, throwing her arms wide and flopping onto Riko’s bed. The other girl stares down at her. Riko’s already seated on the bed. She has on that classic  _ Riko-chan _ look, the one where her eyebrows crease in and her nose wrinkles up, the one that tells Chika that Riko is completely doubting whatever has just been suggested. 

“...I’m not sure, Chika-chan… Where would we even go? And just us?”

Chika considers this for a moment, pressing her hands to her forehead. Her brow furrows, mirroring Riko’s. “Well, no. You-chan would have to come with us, of course!”

“...Why don’t we ask her, then?”

You opens the video call to see two eyes, one amber, the other pink, both staring her down. Riko’s voice comes through the speaker, static-y and tinny. 

“You. Chika’s had a crazy idea again. I need you to talk her out of it!” She pleads, moving the phone so that You can only see her stern face. 

“Hey, it’s not crazy!” Chika protests, wrestling the phone back. “You-chan, listen to me, not the scary demon over there—  _ ow, no kicking! _ — I want to go on a road trip. Just the three of us, alone, on the road for months—”

“Months?!” Riko shrieks from across the room.  

“Okay, not months, but still! Doesn’t that sound like fun?!”

“You-chan, have some sense!” 

You weights her options as Chika and Riko bicker. 

“Actually, Chika-chan, Riko-chan… That sounds like a lot of fun.” 

Riko lets out a groan that can be heard all over Numazu. The phone has been placed on something further away, so You can see both Chika’s beam and Riko’s faceplant into a pillow in one frame. 

“One problem,” You raises a finger. “None of us can drive.”

Riko raises her head from the pillow. Her hair is flipped over her head, falling into her face. “...Actually,” She begins, reluctantly, her exasperation showing in her voice.

Chika and You exclaim in unison, “Riko-chan?!”

“I want it to be known that I hate this idea.” Riko sighs, “But I’ll do it.”

* * *

 

You’s cry echoes through the brisk morning air. “Shotgun!” 

“You-chan, that’s not fair! I never get to sit in the front.” Chika protests, chasing You as she sprints to the van. Riko follows behind sluggishly, exhaustion painted on her face.

“Did we really have to leave so  _ early _ ?”  She complains, buckling herself into the driver's seat. Chika grumbles as she takes residence in the second row of the mini-van. Mari’s let them borrow the car that Aqours took to see the stars. 

“Yes!” You cries. Chika echos her from the backseat. “Come on, let’s get our adventure started! Say it with me, Riko:  _ Zensoku zenshin...” _

“Yousoro…” 

“Try it again!”

“Y-yousoro!”

 

The trip itself is more underwhelming than Riko thought it would be. She drives while Chika and You chatter. Sometimes she joins in, but for the most part, she’s happy to just listen. The radio plays quietly in the background. As Riko drives, she finds herself singing along under her breath.

“ _ Yume no tobria… _ ”

“Riko!”

Riko startles and jerks the wheel. Her reflexes are quick; Riko doesn’t let them spin off the road, but she’s boiling. 

“Chika?! Why did you yell like that?”

“I… I just… You know this song?”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I was so excited because a  μ’s song came on, but then I heard you singing along!” Chika says excitedly. Riko attempts to stutter out a denial, but Chika reaches up to grab both her hand and You’s. “Let’s not miss the rest of the song. C’mon, let’s sing!”

As exasperated as she is, Riko can’t deny the joy she feels when she lifts her voice to sing with her best friends, or the love when she turns to look into their eyes.

* * *

 

“I’m tired!”

“You’re always tired, Chika.”

“Riko, I’m tired too.”

“I can pull off to a rest stop, we can all sleep a few hours, if you guys want to.”

Chika sighs loudly. “We have to sleep in the car?” 

“We don’t have enough money to get a hotel room each night. It’s not like we have money like Mari.”

“Actually,” You interrupts, pulling a rectangle of plastic out of her pocket and flashing it at the other girls, “Mari  _ did  _ give me this when she dropped off the car. She said she wanted us to have the best possible time.” 

Chika begins to grin wickedly. She leans forward, pushing her body on top of the center console. “Fufufu~ Then Riko-chan won’t mind if we go to a nice hotel, will she?” 

You leans forward too, pressing her face next to Chika’s. “Please, Riko-chan?  _ Please, Riko-chan? _ ”

Riko pauses, pulls the car over, and begins to look up hotels on her phone. “Only because Mari is paying for it.”

* * *

 

You heads into the hotel to check them in. Chika and Riko wait in the car. Riko stares straight ahead, looking into the dusk. Chika balances her chin on the center console, appearing to do the same.

“Hey, Riko-chan?” She asks, voice just loud enough to hear. It startles Riko; only because of the seriousness in Chika’s tone. Riko moves her hand back so it rests on top of Chika’s head, it gently cards through her hair.

“Chika?” The concern is obvious in her voice.

“Are you… Are you having a bad time with us?”

“What?” 

“I mean, you didn’t want to come on this road trip in the first place, and I drug you along anyways. I wanted us all to be together, to all have fun, but I just feel like I’m  _ annoying _ you. Like when that song came on the radio, I was  _ way _ too loud, and when I spilled maple syrup on you at lunch, I felt so bad. We can go home if you want, you know? You-chan is worried too. We just want you to be happy, Riko!”

Something pangs in Riko’s stomach. She’s unexpectedly choked up.  _ Stupid Chika.  _

“I’m not upset, Chika. I… I know that sometimes I seem unhappy, or I act strictly, and I’m sorry for that. It doesn’t mean I’m truly angry, though. I’m a very… closed-off person. You know that. Sometimes, it’s easier to be annoyed or upset than to be vulnerable,” Riko cracks a small smile, “Plus, sometimes I really  _ am _ annoyed. Don’t think anything of it. I love being with you two, no matter what.”  

The passenger’s side door swings open. In the bright interior lights of the car, Riko desperately tries to make it look like she wasn’t just on the verge of tears. “Hey, guys! I got the room all set up!  _ Zensoku zenshin, _ let’s go!” Chika slides open her own door and steps out, grabbing her orange duffle as she goes. As Riko prepares to exit, however, she finds someone waiting at her door.

“A hand, milady?”  You offers her own, and Riko feels the blush rise to her cheeks. 

“It’s not like you to be so… suave, You-chan.” She replies, attempting to play it cool. You doesn’t answer, just waves her hand again. Riko places her hand in You’s and watches, in not-quite horror, as the other girl raises it to her cool lips. Riko’s blush spreads around her entire face. You simply smirks. Chika is watching from behind the car, trying to cover her wild laugh. Riko just simmers, all the way into the hotel and up the stairs.  Her blush has just barely faded when Chika flings open the door to the hotel room.

“Hey, You-chan, is this the right room?” 

Riko and You follow behind. Both realize the problem as soon as they step in the room. 

“...You-chan, can you go back down and ask for another room?”

“Ah…” You scratches the back of her neck uneasily. “This was the last room. Apparently there’s some festival going on in town, so there are lots more visitors than usual.”

Chika throws her arms in the air. “Hey, we should go check out that festival tomorrow! It sounds like fun!”

Riko smiles gently. “Chika… maybe we should focus on the huge problem at hand first.”

Chika flops onto the bed, spreading her arms and legs wide, like a starfish. “I don’t see a huge problem!”

You laughs. “Chika-chan, you’re laying on it.” 

“It’s not a problem!” Chika rolls to the other side of the bed. “We can all just share. It’ll be fine. We’ve had sleepovers before, it’s nothing different!” 

Riko’s blush makes a surprise reappearance. “I’ll be sleeping in the bathtub.”

“Eh? Riko-chan, you can’t do that.” You sits on the bed as she speaks, kicking her feet casually. Her hand falls into Chika’s. Looking at it, Riko feels a tiny ache. She wishes. She wishes it could be so easy.

“Riko, sleep with us! I won’t kick, I promise!” Chika sits up and beams at Riko. You rests her head on Chika’s shoulder and does the same. Riko can’t help but grin back. 

Maybe it can be that easy. Falling into her own feelings of inadequacy can happen frequently around You and Chika— not of their design, of course, but watching their childhood cadamerie makes it hard to be the new person in the group. She tries to not let it affect her, and in times like this, maybe Riko can just… let it go.

Riko approaches the bed, coming right next to where You and Chika sit. “Budge over,” She says with a smile. It’s mirrored right back at her.

Later, when the room is dark, the three girls all lay in the bed. Riko sleeps in the middle. You has one arm curved under her, fingers just barely gracing the skin of her hip. Chika, on Riko’s other side, is curled into a knot on her side, forehead touching Riko’s shoulder. You and Chika have drifted off, Riko is getting there.

Just before she completely falls asleep, Riko looks at the two girls next to her, and can’t help but smile.

Maybe this is where she belongs.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! this is my first time writing a second years ship that isn't chikariko, so hopefully i managed to balance the story between all three girls properly. i was aiming to do so; however, i'm not sure if i succeeded. 
> 
> if you liked it, please feel free to write a comment or leave kudos! i'm also currently taking commissions! (http://giftedsun.tumblr.com/post/174904689187/hi-im-reopening-emergency-commissions-for-ax)


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